Grave digger



Nov. 13, 1956 Filed July 31, 1955 J. 1.. CAMP 2,770,057

GRAVE DIGGER 2 Sheets-Shet l 1 N VEN TOR.

John L. (lamp,

ATTbRNEYs J. L. CAMP GRAVE DIGGER Nov. 13, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJuly 31, 1953 INVENTOR. -J0hr2L.CaI72p,

ATTU RNEYE United States Patent 6 f GRAVE DIGGER John L. Camp, Waverly,N. Y.

Application July 31, 1953, Serial No. 371,444

3 Claims. (Cl. 37-103) This invention relates to earth moving equipment,and more specifically, the invention pertains to excavating apparatusespecially designed for the digging of graves.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a land vehicle withapparatus of the type described which will quickly and efficientlyexcavate the ground from a cemetery plot to provide a grave of suitableproportions.

A further object of this invention is to provide a land vehicle withgrave digging equipment adapted for operation by hydraulic means.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide excavatingequipment of the kind referred to above which is non-complex inconstruction and operation, and which is also inexpensive to manufactureand maintain.

Other and further objects and advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent from a consideration of the following specification whenread in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the grave excavating equipment constructedin accordance with the teachings of this invention, and illustrated asbeing mounted for operation 'on a land vehicle shown in dotted lineoutline;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the equipment shown in Fig. 1, lookingtowards'the bucket side thereof;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, substantially medial cross-sectional view, partlyin elevation;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the grave excavating equipment taken on theline 4-4 of Fig. 3; and,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the crankshaft and its mounting means.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, reference numeral 1designates, in general, grave excavating equipment constructed inaccordance with this invention. The equipment comprises five primaryunits which include a shovel member A, a rotary scoop B, a hydraulicunit C, for actuating the scoop B, a land vehicle D for supporting theequipment, and a hydraulic unit E connecting the vehicle and theequipment to operably support the latter on the former.

The shovel member A is preferably constructed as an integral unit havinga substantially rectangular crosssection and comprises a verticallyelongated (as seen in Fig. 1) front plate 2, a back plate 3 spacedtherefrom and extending substantially parallel thereto, the front andback plates being integrally connected by the upper end wall 4 and thepair of spaced, substantially parallel side walls 5 and 6. In Figs. 1 to3, inclusive, it is seen that the back plate 3 has a shorter verticaldimension than the front plate 2, and that the side walls 5, 6 dependtherebeyond and are each formed with an off-set portion 5, 6'intermediate their respective ends which extends away from the backplate 3. The off-set portions 5', 6 of the side walls support a pair ofoppositely disposed apertured brackets 7 (see Fig. 5) of identicalconstruction, the brackets being secured thereon by rivets 8 to theirrespective sides with the apertures thereof in 2,770,057 Patented Nov.13, 1956 alignment. A plurality of spaced parallel, ground engagingteeth 9 are secured by rivets 10 to the lower end of the front plate 2.

The scoop B comprises a pair of oppositely disposed, substantiallyparallel side walls 11 and 12 each having a substantially segmentalconfiguration. A bottom wall 13 extends between the side walls 11, 12,following the curvature of their respective lower ends (see Figs. 3 and4), and is preferably integrally formed therewith. A second pair of:apertured brackets 7', 7' .are provided, the brackets 7, 7 beingidentical to the brackets 7, 7 illustrated in Fig. 5, and the brackets7, 7 are rigidly secured to the inner sides of the side walls 11 and 12,respectively, by rivets 8' with the apertures thereof disposedsubstantially adjacent the apices of the side walls 11, 12, referencebeing made to Fig. 3. The apertures of the brackets 7', 7 are alignedwith each other and with the apertures of the brackets 7, 7 to receivetherethrough the opposite ends of a crankshaft 14. The crankshaft 14 isfixedly secured to each of the brackets 7 7' as by welding at 15 whileit is free to rotate within the apertures formed in the brackets 7, 7.With the described construction it is seen that the scoop B is rotatabletoward and away from the front plate 2. A plurality of spaced,substantially parallel, ground engaging teeth 16 are secured to the lipof the scoop B adjacent the front plate 2 by rivets 17.

The hydraulic unit C includes a support arm 18 inclined at an angle tothe front plate 2 and diverges (see Fig. 1) upwardly and away therefromfor extension beyond the back plate 3. The arm 18 is integral with theupper end Wall 4 and is provided at its lower and with an enlargedapertured boss 19 coaxially aligned with an aperture extendingtransversely through'the upper wall 4. A casing 20 for a reciprocatinghydraulically operated piston (not shown) is fixedly secured to theother end of the arm 18, the piston being connected with a piston rod 21extending downwardly on a line converging toward the lower end of thefront plate 2. A link 22 is pivotally connected at its upper endto thelower end of the piston rod 21 by the link pin 23, and the lower end ofthe link 22 is rotatably connected with the crankshaft 14- by the splitbearing 24. Conduits 25 and 26 connect with the casing 20, at one oftheir respective ends, on opposite sides of the piston, the other endsthereof being connected through conventional valve means (not shown)with a source of fluid under pressure, the hydraulic system and controlmeans therefor being conventional and well known in the art.

The land vehicle D comprises a tractor of conventional design, thoughother types of land vehicles could be utilized. As shown in Fig. 1, thehydraulic unit E comprises a vertical casing 27 connected to one end ofa bellcrank lever 28 pivotally supported on a cross-shaft 29 whichextends transversely of the tractor D and is suitably secured thereto.The other end of the bellcrank lever 30 is pivotally connected at 31with one end of an elongated lever 32 under the control of the operator.

A piston (not shown) is mounted for reciprocation within the casing 27and is connected with one end of a vertically extending (as seen in Fig.l), elongated piston rod 32 which terminates at its other end in aprojection 33 of reduced diameter. The projection 33 passes through theaperture formed in the boss 19 and upper wall 4 and is provided with anenlarged head 34, whereby the units A, B and C are fixedly secured tothe piston re 32 for movement therewith.

A. pair of conduits 35 and 36 have one of their respective endsconnected with the casing 27 on opposite sides of the reciprocatingpiston, and the other ends thereof are connected with a hydraulic systemthrough a conventional valve control.

In operation, the tractor D is driven to the grave site, the piston rod32 having been moved upwardly from its position shown in Fig. l to raisethe units A and B above the ground line. The operator then manipulatesthe valve control for the hydraulic system which includes the conduits25 and 26 whereby fluid under pressure is admitted to the casing throughthe conduit to one side of the reciprocatable piston (not shown) whilesimultaneously therewith relieving the fluid pressure on the other sideof the piston, whereby the fluid on the other side of the piston isexhausted from the casing by movement of the piston. Downward movementof the piston forces the piston rod 21 to move downwardly and throughthe link 22 the crankshaft 14 is caused to rotate thereby raising thescoop to its position shown in Fig. 1.

The operator then manipulates the valve control for the hydraulic systemwhich includes the conduits and 36 causing the piston rod 32 to descendunder the force of the hydraulic fluid which enters the casing 27through the conduit 36, thereby forcing the teeth 9 and the front plate2 into ground engagement as shown in Fig. l. Thereafter, the operatormanipulates the valve control for the hydraulic system of the conduits2S and 26, reversing the flow of fluid therethrough. This eflects anupward movement of the piston rod 21 which turns the crankshaft 14 inthe opposite direction, rotating the scoop B toward the front plate 2together with the earth dislodged thereby.

The operator then actuates the valve control for the hydraulic system ofconduits 35 and 36 to permit fluid under pressure to enter the casing 27through the conduit 35 to elevate the piston rod 32, the shovel A andthe scoop B.

The tractor is then preferably moved rearwardly and the ground carriedby the shovel A and the scoop B is then discharged at a convenientlocation by turning the scoop to its open position, as described supra,or the operator may actuate the lever 32 to pivot the casing 27 torotate the shovel and discharge the dirt rearwardly' of the tractor D,the scoop B then being opened to its discharge position.

From the foregoing it should be manifest that the actual excavatingoperation may also be carried out with the piston rod 32 inclined at anangle other than substantially 90 with respect to the ground line.

Having described and illustrated this invention in detail, it is to beunderstood that the embodiment herein disclosed and illustrated isoffered by way of example, and that the invention is to be limited onlyby the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Grave excavating equipment comprising an elevated support, ahydraulic motor mounted on said support and having a piston rod actuatedthereby, a shovel member rigidly secured to said piston rod, said shovelmember having an elongated front plate and a foreshortened back plate,an upper end wall and a pair of parallel side plates integral with thefront and back plates and retaining said front and back plates in spacedparallel relation to each other, and ground engaging teeth secured tothe lower edge of said front wall, a scoop member having a pair ofopposed sides, a curved bottom wall integral with the lower edges of thesides and ground engaging teeth secured to the forward edge of saidbottom wall for coaction with the ground engaging teeth on said shovelmember, a crankshaft having end portions thereof rigidly secured to saidsides, means pivotally mounting opposed ends of said crankshaft on saidshovel memher, a hydraulic motor rigidly secured to said shovel memberand having a piston rod actuated thereby, means connecting said pistonrod with said crankshaft whereby actuation of said second hydraulicmotor etfects rotation of said scoop member toward and away from saidshovel member, and actuation of said first hydraulic motor raises andlowers said shovel member together with the elements associatedtherewith in vertical relation to ground level so that in excavatingposition said shovel and scoop members are located below ground level.

2. A grave excavating equipment as in claim 1, wherein a support arm isformed integral with the upper end wall of said shovel member and saidsecond hydraulic motor is formed integral with said support arm where- Vby said hydraulic motor is rigidly secured to said shovel member.

3. A grave excavating equipment as in claim 1, wherein the opposed sidesof said shovel member are each provided with olfset portions andapertured brackets are mounted on the opposite faces of said ottsetportionsto pivotally mount the opposed ends of said crankshaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent V UMTED STATES PATENTS210,448 Bridges Dec. 3, 1873 669,446 Morris Mar. 5, 1901 776,125 DuttonNov. 29, 1904 819,791 Neste May 8, 1906 1,307,009 Joy June 17, 19192,200,137 Steinert May 7, 1940 2,332,561 Drott Oct. 26, 1943 2,455,474Drott et a1. Dec. 7, 1948 2,483,033 Baker Sept. 27, 1949 2,639,826Welden May 26, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 349,535 Germany Mar. 4, 1922

